Pictures for Pam, Day 203: Droplet-Covered Purple Bud

(+1 inset!) (I've produced another War & Peace tome but I wanted to make sure I had it all written down for myself! Hopefully you'll find it interesting!)

The title of this blog could be: "Janet and Steve learn more about RV reservations and reality checks!" Heh…

Last night we started making reservations for our next adventure! My-oh-my…how quickly itineraries change the moment you try to book a spot for a favored destination!

Our PLAN was to drive from our home near Medford, Oregon, up to Sun River, Oregon, and spend 4-5 nights. Then we'd drive over to John Day Fossil Beds area for a few days. Then over to Bend, Oregon for another few days and finally down to Diamond Lake for our last destination before heading home. *insert hysterical laughter* Yeah, right.

We noticed there might be a slight problem when we couldn't even get the first place booked as we hoped. Then we found out that our second destination, John Day, doesn't even HAVE campgrounds with electricity/water hookups! Third place: nothing available in Bend. Last place: there was so much winter and spring storm damage that Diamond lake is totally shut down until they get it cleaned up! *insert more insane laughter*

Steve wondered if we'd be forced to stay home all summer but I suggested we throw our plans out the window and start over with the attitude of a dandelion seed parachute...up into the air and where we drifted, we didn't know!

We approached our next trip in a different way...which RV-camper-friendly state parks were within three hours of us and had at least three nights available? After some hunting we found one! It was actually at the original place we looked at but instead of asking for five nights, we tried for three and found a spot, hooray!

Spot number two was found at a high-desert lake campground we'd never heard of before: Cove Palisades State Park We were delighted by its beauty and unique rock formations and look forward to spending time there!

We found another place to camp a few hours away in the northwest corner of Oregon at LL Stubb State Park Yet another park we'd never heard of, we realized how little we actually know about our state parks. What we ARE learning is that our favorite camping experiences have all involved state parks so we were confident this popular park would delight us as much as the others have.

The next place we found threw us a curve ball. There were lots of days available at Detroit Lake but we couldn't go directly from LL Stubb because there was a gap of two days.

Oh those two DAYS! ARGH!! They cost us hours of frustration and fruitless searching. Our nerves frayed but held as we worked together on this challenge. We wondered why that particular weekend was such a problem. I finally figured it out. The last day of school for K-12 would be the previous Friday. Logic shakes it out: that weekend and the following week would be when parents got ready for their summer get-aways with the kids, who would be out of school and available to help get ready too. The crazy weekend we couldn't find any lodging was likely booked up many months ago by wise and experienced parents who knew the drill, unlike us newbies! Oh well, live and learn.

With that in mind we looked for lodging outside state parks and finally found two nights at a place near Tillamook, which is actually on the coast! Only an hour's drive from our last destination, we were happy to learn about all of the wonderful hiking and biking available there...and I discovered a CHEESERY there too! Oooooo...we'll definitely be picking up some specialty brie from Blue Heron during our stay! HUZZAH!

A bit more than two hour's drive will take us to Detroit Lake State Park for our last stay and it promises to be a very nice place to spend a few days. We might even try out fishing! :)

Finally we'll drive south and spend a night at the first campground of our trip so we don't have to drive five hours to get home. Driving a 52-foot truck and trailer is not the most relaxing pastime and even though Steve is more and more comfortable driving our rig, it's still a serious responsibility. It's stressful, no two ways about it, and that includes being a passenger. We're relaxed about it but driving days are exhausting. We don't like to drive more than three hours if we can help it. As expected, it's easier to go longer distances as time goes by, and we'll need to get used to that, especially if we want to travel beyond Oregon!

We ended up spending hours last night working on our travel plans and today we were finally finished at about 3pm after beginning at about 9:30! It's a LOT of work to plan a trip!! After we finished, Steve opted for a cup of coffee and I dove into bed for a nap! We're so happy our next trip is planned, but we also know that if we want to try to avoid the problems we ran into, we'll need to begin our trip after this one sooner rather than later! SHEESH!

With all my time taken up with our travel plans, house work and so forth, I haven't had time to process any new pictures but happily I have a bunch that are already done so I'll pick a few to share!

Today's main picture is a droplet-covered flower bud I found in the meadow outside our RV when we stayed at the campground near Jedediah Smith State Park. There were so many lovely flowers that I took pictures until the rain forced me inside. The shocking truth is that the very next day they mowed down the entire meadow. Every flower that I photographed there was destroyed, including this one. So I'm very happy to share this picture because at least this beauty will live forever in an image. :)

I'm also sharing a picture I took of a wild Azalea I saw at Stout Grove. It was amazing to see these flowers everywhere. In fact, there were wild Azaleas and Rhododendrons all up and down the coast that we couldn't help seeing as we drove. Plenty were planted in gardens but we saw many thousands of wild ones too. What a treat.

Pam, I hope that all is well where you live...I've been reading about the crazy tornadoes in your neck of the woods and I hope that you and folks you know around there are all escaping the damage. Oh, and thank you for the lovely comments...I'm not at all surprised to learn that your caravans needed work too. It's a common theme, but I'm glad you guys were able to get yours ship-shape too! *BIG HUGS*

Explored on 5/31/19; highest placement, #3.